God, Are You Avoiding Me? Hope For When Others Hurt Us!
The Lord woke me in the middle of the night and my mind went straight to thinking about a hurtful situation in my life. No manner of fluffing of pillows and tossing or turning allowed me to ignore it.
So I prayed-with tears.
Some situations in our lives require lengthy grieving-and for me, this injustice towards me is so unfathomable that I have to keep my eyes on Christ and not on those who seek to hurt me.
I’m not alone in these feelings-it’s a dilemma as old as the origin of sin. I’m betting that some of you can relate to a similar experience at this very moment!
The Psalms have always been a source of comfort to me when deep emotions surface in my heart. This morning, Psalm 10 fit the bill and perhaps it’s what you need to hear too.
Psalm 10, (MSG)
1-2 GOD, are you avoiding me? Where are you when I need you? Full of hot air, the wicked are hot on the trail of the poor. Trip them up, tangle them up in their fine-tuned plots.
3-4 The wicked are windbags, the swindlers have foul breath. The wicked snub GOD, their noses stuck high in the air. Their graffiti are scrawled on the walls: “Catch us if you can!” “God is dead.”
5-6 They care nothing for what you think; if you get in their way, they blow you off. They live (they think) a charmed life: “We can’t go wrong. This is our lucky year!”
7-8 They carry a mouthful of hexes, their tongues spit venom like adders. They hide behind ordinary people, then pounce on their victims.
9 They mark the luckless, then wait like a hunter in a blind; When the poor wretch wanders too close, they stab him in the back.
10-11 The hapless fool is kicked to the ground, the unlucky victim is brutally axed. He thinks God has dumped him, he’s sure that God is indifferent to his plight.
12-13 Time to get up, GOD—get moving. The luckless think they’re Godforsaken. They wonder why the wicked scorn God and get away with it, Why the wicked are so cocksure they’ll never come up for audit.
14 But you know all about it— the contempt, the abuse. I dare to believe that the luckless will get lucky someday in you. You won’t let them down: orphans won’t be orphans forever.
15-16 Break the wicked right arms, break all the evil left arms. Search and destroy every sign of crime. GOD’s grace and order wins; godlessness loses.
17-18 The victim’s faint pulse picks up; the hearts of the hopeless pump red blood as you put your ear to their lips. Orphans get parents, the homeless get homes. The reign of terror is over, the rule of the gang lords is ended.
Just like the Psalmist, I’m praying honestly to God about how I’m feeling and that includes some protesting and a lot of frank language.
By the time the Psalmist finishes his lament, his “pulse picks up” and his perspective shifts to the eternal when “The reign of terror is over.” It’s a perfect example to me of how we must take the time to communicate with the Lord and that our hearts and minds change for the better when we do.
Has some hurt been stewing in your brain and heart lately? Maybe it’s time to pray Psalm 10.
So often we want to circumvent suffering-escape it, rush it, or avoid it altogether. But we can't be disciples if we don't accept suffering. Instead of viewing your cross as a burden today, carry it with purpose and gratitude knowing that you hold a sacred symbol of God's love for you. Change the way you think about your trial and believe God when He says that you can have joy in any circumstance, and that He will make beauty from ashes.
God's not avoiding me. In fact, the trials that I face are the very things that draw me to Him. I’m limping along today as the thorn in my side twists deeper, there is no doubt about it. But the more that I turn to my Comforter, the easier it will be to eventually stand up under it.
YOUR TURN! Do you need prayer today too? Let me know, and I will pray for you!
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